Fluid-operated press



'w. J.STREADER" FLUID-OPERATED PRESS Maiwh 28, 1950 Filed Oct. 16. 194s-Arr/s- 1 Patented Mar. 28, 1950 FLUID-OPERATED PRESS William JamesStreader, Portslade, England Application October 16, 1946, SerialNo..703,654 In Great Britain May 16, 1945 Section 1, Public Law 690,August 8, 1946 Patent expires May 16, 1965 1 Claim. (c1.140 113) Thisinvention relates to fluid-operated presses and has for an object toprovide a transportable press which can be easily handled and moved todifferent locations where pressing operations are required to be carriedout in situ'. Such a press is particularly"applicable to forming jointsbetween cables where the ends ofthe cables are encircled by asleeve'whichis pressedinte firm junction with the outer surfaces-of-thecables, such as is described, for example, in the specification ofSerial No. 650,560; filed February 2'7, 1946.

According to this invention, a fluid-operated press comprises acylinder, a plunger projecting therefrom, at least three tie membersconnected to and extending beyond said cylinder and plunger, anda platenor second cylinder and plunger secured to the other ends of said tiemembers the connections between any of said tie rods and the cylinders,or platen, beingreadily separable to facilitate'the insertion of thework to be pressed.

Preferably, two op-posed cylinders and plungers are provided, whichcylinders are connected together by the aforesaid'tie members. In thecase where a press of this kind isemployed for forming a 'jointbetween-cable sheaths by compressing'a sleeve thereon, and where itisnot possible to thread-the end of the cable between the tie members,the cable may be readily inserted between the'two plungers by removingone or other of the aforesaid'tie members. In the case where threetiemembers are employed, only one of them need be removed.

In the case where removable die members are required to be employed inthe pressing operation, the aforesaid removable dies are either locatedin the required position by being arranged to rest and slide along theaforesaid tie members, or are located on cradles which rest and slidealong said tie members.

If the plunger is single-acting, resilient means may be provided forefiecting the return stroke of the plungers. For example, there may beat tached to each said die or cradle two rods, one on either side of thecylinder, which rods extend through guides fixed to the cylinder and areencircled by compression springs which are disposed between the faces ofthe guides and heads on said rods.

In one form of construction according to this invention embodying twocylinders and plungers, each cylinder is provided at both ends thereofwith three outwardly extending lugs one of which is forked and throughwhich the tiemembers extend, which members are in the form of rodsthreaded at their extremities to receive heads which bear against theouter faces of said lugs,

whereby the distance apart of the two cylinders may be adjusted.

The following is a description of one embodiment of the invention,reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the apparatus-with certainparts thereof shown in section, and

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the apparatus looking from the right ofFigure l.

The apparatus is arranged for applying a junction sleeve to the outersurfaces of a cable as is described'in the specification of Serial No.650,560. The apparatus is mounted on a stand or cabinet it] within whichis secured a liquid reservoir H, a hand-operated pump l2, a pressuregauge [3, a release valve [4 and a control cock 4. The reservoir may becylindrical in shape and be provided with a spring loaded or gravityloaded plunger for applying a pressure head to the liquid therein. Thesuction side iii of the pump is connected by a conduit it with thebottom of the reservoir H, while the outlet'side ll of the pump isconnected through one T-piece l8 and conduit l9 with the aforesaidrelease valve l4 and control'cock i, and through another T- piece 20with conduits 2i and 22 leading to the cylinders of a press about to bedescribed. The T- piece 20' is also connected by a conduit 23 with theaforesaid pressure gauge 13. The release valve maybe pre-set so as toopen at a predetermined safe pressure and, when open, the liquid flowingpast it returns through a conduit I24 to the top of the reservoir Ii.The control cock 4 which is in the form of a throttle valve is arrangedto connect the conduit I 9 also with the top of the reservoir I I, thusShOI't-CiICllillll'lg the delivery side of the pump. By this means, thepressure in the conduits 2| and 22 may be controlled. The press which ismounted on top of the stand I0 comprises two axially aligned cylinders24 each of which is closed at one end I25. Each cylinder is provided atthe closed end with three stout lugs. Each uppermost lug 25 is forkedwhile the other two lugs 26 are provided with holes. Extending throughthe holes in said lugs 26 are two tie rods 29 having heads 30 at eitherend thereof which are threaded to engage the threaded extremities of thetie rods but are locked thereto so that the two cylinders may be locatedagainst outward movement at the required distance apart. A third tie rod32 extends through the forked lugs 25 and is also provided with heads 33at each end which are of such a size as to overlap the side faces of thelug. The press is held in position on the stand In by clips 4| whichextend over the tops of the heads 30 of the lower tie rods which clipsare provided with lugs 42 by which they are secured by bolts 28 to thestand, a gap 43 being left between the clips and the cylinder ends sothat there is no axial constraint imparted by the clips to the cylinder.Mounted in each cylinder is a ram 34 against the inner face of which isarranged a cup washer 35. The supply conduits 2| and 22 communicaterespectively with the two closed ends of the cylinders so that the fluidpressure forces the two rams towards one another when the control cock 4is adjusted so as to prevent the short-circuiting of the liquid. A yoke36 is secured on the outside of the closed end of each cylinder so as toproject on either side thereof and fixed to each projecting end is aguide cylinder 31 in which slides a block 38 connected by a rod 39connected either to one part of the die 40 which contracts the sleeve onto the cable or to the end of the ram. A compression spring I42 isarranged between the block 38 and an end face 44 of the cylinder. Bythis means, the ram and the parts of the di may be separated when thefluid pressure is released. The lower sides of the die parts 40 may beshaped so as to be located relatively to one another by resting on thetie rods 29. Alternatively, they may be mounted on a cradle whichengages the said tie rods.

Thus, in a case where it is desired to shrink a sleeve on to acontinuous cable, the upper tie rod is removed from the forked lug 3!,the cable in its sleeve is passed between the two separated die parts40, the tie rod 32 is placed in position, the control cock 4 is adjustedin a position so that when pumping takes place pressure will begenerated in the supply conduit 22, whereupon the rams and die partswill move together and a pressure will be exerted on the sleevedependent upon the adjustment of the control cock 4 or the release valve14, whichever is the greater.

' The required pressure will be maintained so long as pumping takesplace. When it is desired to separate the die parts, the control cock 4is opened, whereupon the spring-controlled connecting rod 39 will drawthe die parts apart.

I claim:

A liquid operated press comprising two coaxially and horizontallarranged cylinders spaced apart, a plunger projecting from each cylindertowards the other, flanges on said cylinders, each flange having anupwardly opening socket at its top portion, three tie rods connectingtogether said flanges, one of said tie rods being arranged above saidcylinders while the other two ar arranged at the opposite sides of saidcylinders, said one tie rod extending through said sockets formed insaid flanges and having at both ends heads which engage the outer facesof the flanges bordering said sockets, said one tie rod being verticallyremovable from said sockets and from the space between th flanges, a diepart connected to each plunger and adapted to slide along the other twotie rods, two rods connected at one end to each die part on either sidethereof and heads at their other ends, fixed guides into which said rodswith heads extend, springs encircling said rods and abutting at one endthe inner sides of said heads and at the other end with abutment faceson said guides for opposing movement of said plungers towards oneanother, means for supplying fluid under pressure to the outer ends ofsaid cylinders, valve means for controlling the supply of said fluidunder pressure to the outer ends of said cylinders, a stand, and meansfor securing the outer ends of the other two tie rods to said standwithout imparting axial constraint to the cylinder assembly.

WILLIAM JAMES STREADER.

REFEREE? CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 671,835 McTighe Apr. 9, 1901677,148 Webb June 25, 1901 961,133 Higgins June 14, 1910 1,002,747Parish Sept. 5, 1911 1,174,646 Williams Mar. 7, 1916 1,470,529 GerberOct. 9, 1923 1,861,337 Ernst May 31, 1932 2,072,488 Stacy Mar. 2, 19372,075,847 Hothersall Apr. 6, 1937 2,113,087 Jensen Apr. 5, 19382,149,641 Temple Mar. 7, 1939 2,254,613 Matthysse Sept. 2, 19412,280,351 Penfold Apr. 21, 1942 2,407,855 Stephens Sept. 17, 1946

